There are some big changes in the Magnet Entertainment Dublin Fringe Festival this year. Having severed all ties with the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2005, it is now running from September 9–24, a shorter duration, but only ten less shows than last year,
Another innovation this year is that the Fringe Festival is spreading its net further afield than ever before, with shows in Dundrum, Ballymun and Dun Laoghaire. There will also be some surprising new venues, such as at traffic lights, a pub, a dentist’s surgery, the Liffey, a shopping centre and even a vending machine. And for music fans, the phenomenally popular Spiegeltent will be bigger, with better sound.
So what acts will be there? Transmission, featuring BRIT award-winning producer Youth and Simon Tong, Transit Kings featuring Alex Paterson (The Orb), Jimmy Cauty (KLF) and Guy Pratt (Post-Waters Pink Floyd bassist) plus Belka & Strelka, Analogue Mindfield and a DJ set from the Orb. Other acts include Young Blood Brass Band and Laura Izibor.
As for the theatrical events, chief among these will be US company SaBooge Theatre, who won the Best Production at the 2004 Dublin Fringe Festival for Fathom. This time round their production is Every Day Above Ground – An Adaptation of Michael Ondaatje’s Collected Works of Billy The Kid. Promising to advance SaBooge’s interest in physical storytelling and the grotesque, this show ‘recreates history and myth in all its brutality and splendour.’
Teatro Delusio, the three-member cast of German Company Famile Floz, bring to life a cast of over 30 characters through the use of masks. The British Theatre Guide has said ‘Famile Floz’s brand of physical comedy is both endearing and galvanising.’ And that no doubt also applies to Teatro Deluiso.
Oz: A Fairytale Plot by Dopplegang is part musical theatre, part drag show, part multimedia installation and a ‘full blown decadent musical diversion’ that uses sumptuous costumes, surreal sets, big shiny production numbers and a gender-bending cast. Sounds like the HotPress Christmas Party. Then again, so too does the Irish theatre company Whiplash’s production of An Image For The Rose which is "a no holds barred blood and snot dogfight Quentin Tarantino style – complete with medieval broadswords, crowdsurfing, guitar solos and religious fanatics." It is, incidentally, based on characters and events in William Shakespeare’s Henry VI.
Similarly fascinating is And They Used To Star In Movies which is being staged by Bewley’s Café Theatre in Association with Bang Bangs (Ireland) and is a "black comedy that deals with fame, celebrity, drug addiction and friendship" and is about three former child stars called Minnie, Mickey and Donald, three of the most recognisable cartoon icons of the 20th century.
Dedalus Lounge, produced by Ireland’s Pageant Wagon Theatre Company, has a similar theme. It’s set in a grungy old city centre bar in Dublin where former college buddies Danny, Daragh and Delphine reflect on recent triumphs and tragedies, and is said to be “a jet-black Christmas tale of desperation, casual sex, bereavement, shoplifting and Freddy Mercury Impersonations.”
For those who love dance, a definite highlight among the many dance productions on show has to be Los Gemolos Lombard (identical twins from Argentina), who are the face of both Louis Vuitton and Versace ad campaigns, and have performed with a veritable who’s who of the U.S music and dance scene, and in this show Dreamers they pull out all the stops and combine Hip-Hop and Tap-Dancing. Clearly the organisers of the Fringe themselves have pulled out all the stops for this year’s Festival, including making sure information is at your fingertips. For a once off charge of 50c you can text FRINGE + your name to 53101 and receive the latest information on shows, special offers and the location of a secret performance. Tickets can also be booked online at www.fringenest.com or you can download the programme from the Dublin Fringe Festival website itself or you can phone 1850 Fringe (374643) or book at the Temple Bar Information Centre, 12, East Essex Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Enjoy.